Lester takes loss as Blue Jays beat Red Sox, 7-1

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester walks off the field during the third inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto on Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts tries to field a groundball on an infield single from Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista as Dustin Pedroia (15) looks on during eighth inning of a baseball game against in Toronto on Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Toronto Blue Jays' Colby Rasmus, left, and Jose Bautista almost collide while chasing a pop-fly by Boston Red Sox's Grady Sizemore during the eighth inning of a baseball game in Toronto on Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista, right, congratulates Brett Lawrie on his solo home run against the Boston Red Sox during second-inning baseball game action in Toronto, Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Boston Red Sox starting pitcher Jon Lester walks off the field during the third inning of a baseball game against the Toronto Blue Jays in Toronto on Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

Boston Red Sox's Xander Bogaerts tries to field a groundball on an infield single from Toronto Blue Jays' Jose Bautista as Dustin Pedroia (15) looks on during eighth inning of a baseball game against in Toronto on Sunday, April 27, 2014. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Frank Gunn)

TORONTO – Run support has been hard to come by for Boston’s Jon Lester all season, and yesterday was the same story.

Melky Cabrera, one of a record six players from the Dominican in Toronto’s starting lineup, hit a go-ahead double and the Blue Jays ended a season-worst four-game losing streak, beating the Red Sox, 7-1.

Lester (2-4) allowed four runs and five hits in seven innings. He walked none, struck out seven and threw a season-high 122 pitches.

The left-hander came in with the lowest run support of any Red Sox starter at 2.67 runs per nine innings, but said he wasn’t bothered by the fact his batters only managed to score once in his favor.

“I don’t get to hit and if I did, it would probably be worse,” Lester said.

Lester went 4-0 with a 2.55 ERA in six starts against the Blue Jays last year but couldn’t extend that streak of success.

“I thought I threw the ball well,” Lester said. “I made a couple mistakes and they made me pay for it later in the game.”

Red Sox Manager John Farrell said Lester deserved a better fate.

“They took probably four of five good swings today out of 120 pitches thrown,” Farrell said.

The first four hitters in Toronto’s lineup were all from the Dominican Republic: shortstop Jose Reyes, outfielders Cabrera and Jose Bautista and first baseman Edwin Encarnacion.

Esmil Rogers, the seventh Dominican player on Toronto’s 25-man roster, struck out the side in the ninth.

Reyes said he was proud to be part of a milestone moment for the baseball-mad country.

“No doubt,” the shortstop said. “It’s good to share the same field with the people you know from back home.”

In Toronto’s clubhouse following the game, Bautista and Rogers were using their phones to snap photos of the lineup card, which the Dominican players had autographed. Bautista said he intended to have it framed and sent to a museum in his homeland.

R.A. Dickey (2-3) won for the first time in four starts.

Brett Lawrie homered, doubled and drove in two runs as the Blue Jays avoided their first sweep against Boston since June 2011.

Cabrera went 2-for-4 and leads the majors with 39 hits. His double in the third put Toronto ahead to stay at 2-1.

Encarnacion doubled twice and drove in two runs. Bautista had a hit and RBI, and has reached base safely in all 25 games this season.

On a day the Blue Jays handed out bobblehead dolls in his likeness, Dickey allowed one run and five hits in 6.1 innings. He walked none, struck out five and won for the first time since April 5 against the New York Yankees.

“Obviously, I planned it that way,” Dickey deadpanned.

Dickey retired the first five batters before the Red Sox scratched out a run with three straight singles with two outs in the second. Jonny Gomes scored when Jackie Bradley Jr.’s looper dropped in front of Cabrera in left.

Lawrie tied it in the bottom half with his home run.

Dickey retired 10 straight before hitting Will Middlebrooks to begin the seventh. Xander Bogaerts chased Dickey with a one-out double, but reliever Steve Delabar got Bradley to foul out and David Ross to fly out, preserving a 2-1 lead.

The Blue Jays added two insurance runs off Lester in the bottom half. Encarnacion hit a leadoff double and scored when Lawrie doubled off the glove of Middlebrooks at third. Lawrie moved to third on a fly ball and scored on Sierra’s grounder.

Toronto padded its lead with three runs off Andrew Miller in the eighth. Bautista hit an RBI single and Encarnacion followed with a two-run double.